When Defense Secretary Austin was appointed, one of his first orders to command was to investigate extremist activity in our military.
That investigation has now concluded.
The report found that there were about 100 troops that had engaged in what they are describing as “extremist activity.”
Blown Out of Proportion
When Austin initially made the announcement, it was made to sound as though there was some secret society operating within our military.
When you consider how many troops we have throughout all of our branches, this number is miniscule in nature.
I don’t want to downplay how dangerous it can be to have extremists in the military (as we have all seen the damage even one wayward soul can do), but this is clearly not the problem that Austin was making it out to be when he made the initial announcement.
We also have to look at what they are now defining as “extremist” activity as well.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby stated, “We believe that less than 100, or about 100, active duty or reserve component members of the military participated in prohibited extremist activities.”
That number would account for roughly .005 percent of all troops currently serving.
To my point above, we also need to look at how loosely this definition of “extremism” is being defined.
For instance, anyone attending the January 6 rally, which later turned into a riot, would be considered to have participated in extremist activity, even if they did not participate in the rioting at the Capitol.
The White House was cautious not to attack the label to particular groups, such as BLM or the Proud Boys.
On this, Kirby stated, “Groups can and do change their methodology, their ideals, their motivations, and they can reform themselves.
“They can disband and reform into something else.
“And so if we got into coming up with a list of extremist groups, it would be only probably as good as the day we published it.”
Do you believe we have an extremist problem in our military?
Tell us what you think in the comments section below.
Source: Fox News
